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Monday, 25 May 2015

Hi! The DT at Pixels and Paper are presenting a tutorial each month on some techniques we use. It's been my turn this month and I am showing just a sample of what I have done. To find out more about what I did and how I did it, pop on over to:pixelsandpaper and check it out.

Monday, 18 May 2015

Hi and welcome. Today I'm sharing a canvas featuring some of the places I love to visit in my local area as well as an artwork by an indigenous Australian artist, Sally Morgan, as my DT piece for Anything But A Card. Our theme this month has been "Inspired By the Masters".

This artwork by Sally Morgan is a screen print "Aboriginal Land" from 1995. This depicts images of six different Australian landscapes including desert, rivers, mountains and trees. The whole piece has been encircled by a rainbow serpent to give strength and unity to the print. It is also a creation spirit in Aboriginal Australia.

I chose a 50 x 35cm canvas so that I could work a number of photos on a larger area. The background was sprayed with Dylusions Inks and Lindy Stamp Gang sprays. A border of leaves was stencilled on with Viva Modelling Creams and Ferro combinations.

I also stencilled on a water effect with the same products. The photos I used all have some significance with each other, as well as some Aboriginal significance.
The top photo is an aerial view of Mt Warning, named so by Captain Cook and known as Wollumbin by the local Aboriginals. This peak and the rim of mountains around it are the remains of a huge shield volcano which covered this area. With the erosion over the millennium, the beautiful Tweed Valley, Richmond Valley and the Border ranges were formed.
The remaining photos are of the Nimbin Rocks, Whian Whian Falls (taken one very misty morning), rapids at a creek near Protester's Falls, and overflow from Rocky Creek Dam, after a period of flooding rain.
Rain that falls in the Mt Warning and Border Ranges catchment area impact these creeks and dams, hence the water connection on the canvas.
Many of the towns and villages, particularly in the Tweed have Aboriginal names, including the home town of my childhood and teenage years, Murwillumbah.
They are all a part of rainforest areas and that is why I have chosen to use the leaves to connect them. My bright colours, inspired by Sally Morgan, have been used in the flowers that I've made. These represent lillypilly flowers which are a typical rainforest tree. These were painted onto card using modelling cream and then streaks and dots of pearl pens. Additional leaves were stamped onto mop-up card and cut out.
Pop on over to: anythingbutacard and check out what masters the rest of the team has chosen and how they've been inspired.

Friday, 15 May 2015

Hi and welcome. This month's inspirational artwork at ARTastic is "The Return of the Young Prince" by Sarah Beetson, with the additional criterion of the use of stars.

For my layout this month I have chosen some of the colours depicted in the artwork and constructed an iris folded star as the background mat for the photo I've used.

One of the papers used for this was one of my experiments with a new stencil and Neon inks.
The photo I've used was taken of my soon-to-be husband and self, not long after our engagement in 1973. The photographer was one of my bridesmaids to be.

Additional stars were made from some of the same papers and were highlighted with dots using black or gold Sharpies. The border was done with a gold Sharpie and I added black stars.

Thank you for dropping by and while you're here, why not pop on over to:artastic and check out how the rest of the team has used the artwork. We'd also love to see your art here.

Sunday, 3 May 2015

Hi and thanks for coming by. For Pixels and Paper this month, we have a delightful image, evoking memories of the past... a fitting image for Mother's Day, celebrated in Australia next Sunday.

This month I have taken the blue colours inspired by the 'Bluebird of Happiness', the lacy edge on the embroidery and the floral elements and have incorporated these to produce a layout predominantly in shades of blue, white and cream.
My mum loved embroidery and crocheting and I'm fortunate to have items she made. The doily on the hoop in the image also brought back some childhood memories of my first attempts with embroidery... I did a piece that looks remarkably similar to this one!

The photo is of myself as a junior bridesmaid at my sister's wedding. The gift my sister gave me was a double Bluebird of Happiness brooch, which can just be seen on my dress. I still have this piece along with a bracelet, signet ring and locket, which were subsequent gifts from the family for birthdays and Christmas. I gave the page a shabby, distressed look and also used dry embossing techniques on vellum. The velum had a small floral pattern and I used a ball stylus to emboss the reverse side, giving the piece the opaque white raised look that replicated the flocking on the fabric of my dress... a flocked spotted nylon which was so fashionable in the '60's!
I added a crocheted doily and also an embroidered doily. Flowers were diecut from the same papers I used on the layout as well as from some watercolour paper. The technique I used for this particular paper will be revealed later in the month at Pixels and Paper. All edges were smooshed with Prima chalk edgers.Pop on over to:pixelsandpaper and check out how the rest of the team has used the inspiration image this month.
Catch you again soon.
Cheers, Di